YouTube under fire in Germany

August 28, 2007 9:00am

The Central Council of Jews in Germany has joined the call to punish YouTube for failing to remove hate material from its Web site.

YouTube, the online video sharing portal, has been accused of spreading neo-Nazi material. According to a report in the ARD television magazine, anti-Jewish propaganda from the Third Reich and music by the banned neo-Nazi group Landser can be viewed unhindered on YouTube.

Such material is illegal in Germany. The report said some of the material had been online for several months. The federal Ministry of the Interior has recommended filing charges.

German officials reportedly have warned YouTube more than 100 times to remove the material but without a response.

The vice president of the German Jewish council, Salomon Korn, has asked that Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Justice Ministry intervene to stop the online publication of offending video clips.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, is based in California and thus beyond Germany’s legal reach. But German officials could come down harder on Web companies with operations in Germany.